‘He’s like a machine’

Chelsea resident JP Dice is the chief meteorologist at WBRC Fox 6 News and has led the station’s weather coverage since 2008. He provides weather updates during the 4-6:30 p.m. and 9-10:30 p.m. newscasts.

Most Birmingham area residents know James-Paul Dice by his first two initials, JP.

Dice, a Chelsea resident, has spearheaded the station’s weather coverage for the past 11 years. In that span, he has tracked everything from thunderstorms and tornadoes to snow and sleet.

“He’s like a machine,” said Jill Gilardi, one of Dice’s fellow meteorologists at WBRC. “Whenever there’s severe weather, he’ll be here as long as we need him to be.”

In the rhythm of a regular 4 p.m. newscast, Dice appears on air every six minutes for two and a half hours. Between sips of Diet Mountain Dew — his beverage of choice — he provides live weather updates at a careful cadence and polished pitch.

“I think I really enjoy the community service part of it,” Dice said. “I really enjoy the use of technology to help people, to be able to give people that advanced warning.”

But there is more to Dice than meetsthe screen.

In addition to his broadcasting endeavors, the 46-year-old savors another type of air time. Dice possesses multiple pilot licenses and is a certified flight instructor. Within a year, he anticipates he’ll have the credentials to become a commercial transport pilot, which would qualify him to fly for a major airline like Delta or Southwest.

“I’m one of these folks that if I’m into something, I’m in 120 percent,” Dice said, “so I just hit it full blast.”

That’s what he’s always done.

Dice knew by his teenage years that he wanted to pursue a career in TV news. Growing up in the tiny Central Florida town of Frostproof, Dice watched the local TV stations fervently. At age 13, he visited the CBS affiliate in Orlando and became further enamored.

“I went in there, and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is like the neatest thing ever,’” said Dice, recalling the July 1986 station tour.

Not long after, Dice began his broadcasting career by covering Frostproof City Council meetings for a local radio station. He eventually wound up majoring in telecommunication news at the University of Florida, then landed his first full-time position as the weekend weatherman at WCJB-TV in Gainesville.

His longtime affinity for science and computer programming influenced his decision to hone in on meteorology rather than news.

“I was looking for something in broadcasting that was very technology-driven,” Dice said, “and weather was very technology-driven.”

Dice worked in Gainesville briefly before enrolling in a master’s of meteorology program at Mississippi State University. He graduated in 1997 and then joined the weather team at WHNT-TV in Huntsville. Working under respected meteorologist Dan Satterfield, Dice gained experience tracking storms and became an expert in weather technology.

In 2004, he helped develop the first dual-polarization Doppler radar for broadcast meteorology use.

“What it allowed us to do was determine where debris signatures are within a tornado,” Dice said. “It also enabled us to determine what the storm is producing. Is it producing hail or rain or sleet? It was revolutionary.”

Dice stayed in Huntsville until 2008, when he landed the chief meteorologist job at WBRC.

One of his earliest hand-picked additions to the station’s weather team was Wes Wyatt, whom Dice recruited in 2010 from WVUA in Tuscaloosa. Wyatt now serves as Dice’s primary backup during the afternoon and evening weekday newscasts. The duo comprises one-third of WBRC’s six-person weather team, which Dice said is the largest in the Southeastern United States.

“He’s a great leader, and he just has a great way of devising plans and sticking to them,” Wyatt said of Dice. “There’s a very awesome practicality about JP. He’s very good at saying, ‘Well, let’s plan for the worst, and if it doesn’t happen, that’s a good thing.’”

Wyatt has worked closely with Dice over the years, watching him weather both the storms of nature and of life.

Together, they covered the devastating tornadoes that decimated portions of the state on April 27, 2011. Wyatt said Dice’s most powerful moment in TV transpired in the immediate aftermath when he showed on air a piece of wood debris that had been carried from Tuscaloosa to WBRC’s property in Birmingham.

The image underscored the severity of the storm. “That was unbelievable, and that’s one of those events that only comes, fortunately, once in a lifetime,” Dice said. “You just don’t see that magnitude of severe weather.”

When he’s not working as a meteorologist, JP Dice enjoys flying airplanes. He earned his pilot’s license in 2011 and is now a certified flight instructor.

Wyatt also watched firsthand as Dice navigated a personal maelstrom. In 2012, he was diagnosed unexpectedly with colon cancer. He then underwent surgery and endured six months of chemotherapy.

Now fully healthy, Dice uses his platform to advocate for colon cancer awareness. He’s heard from many who have discovered issues after heeding his warnings to get colonoscopies.

“Nobody wants to have cancer,” Dice said, “but it was worth having it to at least be able to use this platform to help people so that they don’t end up dying from it.”

Dice continued working at WBRC throughout his treatment. But piloting, which he became licensed to do in 2011, took a backseat amid the turbulent season.

Dice returned to the air once he conquered cancer and has seldom stopped. He’s logged more than 1,400 total hours of flight time, averaging 250 to 300 per year.

Many days he’ll fly in the morning before coming into work early in the afternoon.

“There is nothing like the freedom of being in the air,” Dice said. “Some folks think that’s funny, that one of the most relaxing things I do is fly an airplane. It’s wonderful.”

For Dice, flying carries personal meaning and practical importance. He taught his son, Spencer, how to fly on his own. He also married his wife, Aliece, while riding in a plane at 6,000 feet.

Practically, flying has helped Dice develop an intricate mental map of Alabama. He estimates that he has soared over nearly every part of the state, which has heightened his knowledge of spatial relationships.

That comes in handy when tracking storms in more remote locations.

“I see the world with a top-down view, landmarks and everything else,” Dice said. “I can visualize the whole state in my head and what everything looks like.”

Dice is now in his 24th year as a meteorologist, with no plans of slowing down. His schedule simply won’t allow it.

He makes frequent appearances at community events and schools, provides morning weather updates to eight radio stations six days a week and informs a social media following that numbers close to 80,000.

That's all in addition to his full-time shifts at the station. “He is an incredible person,” Wyatt said. “He really is.”